Two candidates added to Massachusetts bishop slate

[Episcopal Diocese of Massachusetts] The Standing Committee of the Episcopal Diocese of Massachusetts announced today two additional candidates for election as bishop, having verified proper petitions and satisfactory background checks for both. They are:

More information about each of the candidates is available at the site independently maintained by the Transition Committee at www.mabishopsearch.org.

The additional candidates successfully submitted required signed petitions and application materials during a two-week petition period after announcement of the original slate. Both have cleared background checks.

All seven candidates will participate in a series of open meetings around the diocese March 14-18, giving the people of the diocese an opportunity to meet and learn more about them.

The election will take place on Saturday, April 5 at the Cathedral Church of St. Paul (138 Tremont Street) in Boston. All canonically resident clergy of the diocese and lay delegates (two elected from each of the diocese’s parishes and missions) vote separately as “orders”; a majority of votes on the same ballot from both the clergy and lay orders is required for election. (April 12 has been set as the date for reconvening, should the electing convention not complete its business on April 5.)

Pending consent from a majority of the Episcopal Church’s diocesan bishops and a majority of dioceses (via their Standing Committees), the consecration of the bishop-elect is scheduled to take place on Saturday, Sept. 13, at the Agganis Arena at Boston University, with the presiding bishop of the Episcopal Church, the Most Rev. Katharine Jefferts Schori, presiding.

The current bishop, the Rt. Rev. M. Thomas Shaw, SSJE, became the 15th bishop of the Diocese of Massachusetts in January 1995. In preparation for retirement, he plans to resign his office at the time of the new bishop’s consecration.

The Diocese of Massachusetts, among the Episcopal Church’s oldest and largest, in terms of baptized membership, comprises 183 parishes, missions, chapels and chaplaincies in eastern Massachusetts.